Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Please, in addition to Jean-Claude Van Damme, please help us find a Japanese male star to play Ryu..."

The Capcom people brought a big check, and they had only one request, that the protagonist of the game (the default choice) must be a Japanese. Otherwise, they really couldn't explain to the domestic game fans.

Capcom knows nothing about how to make movies, but their people have all kinds of strange obsessions. For example, the American soldier Coulee must be played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the martial artist Ryu, who wears a white uniform, must be played by a Japanese.

"Jean-Claude Van Damme is very expensive. His movies have received good reviews from film critics. Now the price has increased. I guess you can't get him without 8 million... In fact, I have another actor here, Lundgren, who is also a karate champion, and can be much cheaper."

"But our domestic audience only recognizes Jean Claude Sans."

"Then you have to pay more..."

"No problem, the president explained before I came that Ronald Sans is our Capcom benefactor. As long as you think it is right, we will do it..."

"Then I want to say, why not use a Chinese actor to play Long? Their martial arts skills are very comfortable, and there is no need to find Japanese actors who can't act in action movies to train them. Anyway, the audience can't tell whether they are Chinese or Japanese..."

When Ronald heard that the other party respected him so much, he told some truth. Qiu Yunbo, who had filmed several action movies for Daydream before, looks quite suitable for the role of Long.

"Please, Ronald-san. Although, although the American audience can't tell the difference, our Japanese audience can tell at a glance that they are not Japanese..."

"What you said makes sense. Let's do it according to your idea. Tell my colleagues if you have any Japanese actors to recommend. As long as they are handsome and have certain physical conditions, the martial arts instructor we found from Hong Kong can definitely train them to be action actors."

Ronald felt that Capcom still had the idea of ​​selling copies in Japan. Since they didn't listen to the experts' opinions, let's do it according to their wishes. Anyway, this kind of action exploitation film emphasizes good-looking fighting and no big flaws in the plot.

"Everything is up to you..." The people at Capcom were overjoyed. The several requirements set by the president before were actually met. This business is really perfect.

"Since you have invited Jean-Claude Van Damme, you should also invite a few stars who match him. There are twelve roles anyway, and there should be two or three who can play the same role as him. Otherwise, Gu Li has too many scenes, and the plot of your movie will be unbalanced." Ronald made up his mind to shoot this live-action "Street Fighter" as a daydream project to make money from the Japanese and satisfy his own stars. Anyway, you have many requirements, so let's increase the stakes according to these requirements.

"Ha, before we came here, the president said that this actor named Kenya Sawada has the temperament of Takashi..." The visitor presented the photo of the actor. This actor is the game spokesperson of Capcom. It seems that they have already made up their minds.

"Okay, let's take him..." Ronald looked at the resume. This person has also filmed action movies in Hong Kong and is familiar with the martial arts there, so he has no worries now.

"I don't know, Ronald-san, are there any other stars you think are suitable for Street Fighter? Can Tom Cruise play a role?" The visitor has achieved the highest goal, and now he is thinking, can he invite a Hollywood superstar to play a role? For example, Cruz-san, who is the most popular among female audiences in Japan?

"Do you know what is the most important thing in Hollywood filming?" Ronald laughed. You guys are really imaginative.

"What is it?"

"It's the script. I'll find you the best action movie script. I've already invited many of the best-selling action movie screenwriters before. With a good script, we can cast according to the script..."

"Everything is up to you..." The people from Capcom happily went to report the good news to the president.

"Hey, Rick, Richard, is my business good?" Ronald also happily asked two agents to take the list to find the right person to talk.

An outsider, with an investment of 40 million US dollars (which can be added according to Ronald's requirements), the whole Hollywood is excited, especially those practitioners who have experience in action exploitation films and those actors who are not very popular.

For them, outsiders give them money to try a new type of movie. If they shoot well, they can improve their position. If they shoot badly, they can get high pay. Is there anything better than this? All this was brought to them by Ronald.

…

“Richard, Richard, we are old friends. You have to recommend me. I heard that the people from the game company are in Los Angeles. I wrote the script overnight. Please give me a chance…”

The first to smell the smell were the screenwriters. CAA Richard and Niceta’s agents also have many screenwriters. After hearing the news, they all came to them to seek a regular chapter.

The most powerful one among them is this Jamaican-Philadelphia named Steven E. De Sousa. He wrote the first draft of the script in just one night. When other screenwriters only verbally asked for a chance, he had already brought the bound script to ask for a meeting with Capcom.

“Your work is good. I’ll take you to see Ronald.” Richard flipped through it. Although the script was hastily written, it was surprisingly well organized.

Two martial artists, Long and Ken, try to trick the warlord Sagat into buying fake weapons. After being discovered, he was forced to fight with the Spanish bullfighter Vega.

Drug lord and warlord Bison asked Indian scientist Dalsim to transform Blanca into a biochemical fighter. Although disfigured, Blanca retains a sliver of humanity.

Bison kidnapped the Secretary-General of the United Nations and demanded a huge ransom. American soldier Guli tracked into the jungles of Central America and vowed to rescue the hostages and arrest Byson.

News reporter Chun Li, because her parents were killed by Bison, is also tracking this number one villain...

In the end, everyone met at Baison's base, defeated Baison, and peace was restored to the world.

The eight protagonists and four big bosses turned into several plot lines, and he arranged them very well. I didn't feel that the plot was confusing, and the roles of each protagonist were roughly balanced.

De Souza is a veteran screenwriter of action exploitation movies. He has previously written the Schwarzenegger-starring Running Man and Commando, and also revised the script of Die Hard. These movies are all action movies that have the characteristics of B-level exploitation movies. The emphasis is on the plot having no loopholes, focusing on various battle scenes, and giving each protagonist enough time to show off his kung fu...

"Hey, brother Richard, can you go directly to meet the people at Capcom? I heard that they are paying for it this time."

"Let me see what I can do..."

De Souza, who was confused about the situation, immediately lost Richard's favor with him. However, the script was still sent to Ronald.

"He wanted to meet people from Capcom and become a director..." Richard told Ronald about De Souza's idea.

"This guy's scripts are pretty good. It's been so many years and he still hasn't directed a film. It shows that Hollywood still doesn't recognize his directorial ability." Ronald flipped through the script and felt that it fit this description. Exploitation film route.

But most screenwriters still want to be directors themselves. The resume submitted by De Souza said that his first film was also written and directed, and he also won the gold medal at a film festival in Atlanta.

The reason why he didn't get the chance to direct may be because of his lack of ability, or maybe because of his Jamaican heritage and being discriminated against by Hollywood. Ronald didn't want to go into details. Anyway, if you want to go around yourself and meet Capcom's people, this director won't let you be.

"Let's keep the script, find someone to translate it into Japanese, and let Capcom people read it. In name, they still have to make a decision." Ronald said with a smile.

Soon, the script translated into Japanese was sent to people at Capcom, and then sent back to Japan via fax, and was approved by Capcom’s president Kenzo Tsujimoto.

"This script is very good. Ronald Sang's vision is indeed extraordinary. The background of each character is clearly explained, and the protagonist is fully arranged. Everything is taken care of."

"Okay, as long as you are satisfied. Our Daydream is different from other studios and fully respects the wishes of the investors." Ronald replied with a smile.

"I wonder what candidates the director can arrange. Can he also find the director of Die Hard?"

Ronald frowned, "You don't know, the director of Die Hard is very disobedient. Fox didn't let him direct the second sequel. But the box office of the second one was no less than that of the first one. This shows that For this type of movie, the key is not the director.

We Daydream has many directors who are suitable for this kind of movie. For example, there is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Have you seen it? "

"Ah, this movie was also shot by Daydream? It was also shown on Japanese TV... It's very dark, the fighting is exciting, and the heroine is also very beautiful."

"Although not named, the screenwriter Mr. Whedon participated in a lot of filming, and I am going to let him be the director of this movie."

"Please do everything." Capcom's people have a very Japanese aesthetic, and have a special interest in movies that focus on dark night scenes and indoor shots. Hearing that it was Whedon, the genius who created Parfait, he quickly called Japan to report the good news. Ronald Sang is really helpful and has a good understanding of Japanese culture.

…

De Souza got his wish, and he and Richard came to visit the wealthy financial backer, Capcom's liaison. This senior staff member will only stay in Los Angeles for one more day and will immediately go back to report the situation to the president.

De Souza was very happy, which meant that after he met the financial sponsor, other screenwriters had almost no chance to meet him again.

"Your script is very good. Capcom decided to buy it with 25 million yen, um, that's 250,000 US dollars..."

Sure enough, Richard did not disappoint him. Capcom directly offered a huge price. At this time, studios generally have no money, and there are not many scripts that can sell more than 100,000 yuan.

"I love Japanese culture... I am the best candidate to be the director of this movie..." De Souza happily presented the rhetoric he had prepared, but the other party raised his hand to stop him...

"In Japan, the screenwriter is the screenwriter, and the supervisor is the supervisor. You do your job well..." The people at Capcom felt a little annoyed. These Americans are just too free and have no rules. Ronald Sang has already arranged the candidates, so don't get involved.

After being scolded by the hierarchical Japanese financier, De Sousa had to go back in dismay. The reason why he wrote this script was that he learned about this game through his son. He didn't expect that his dream of being a director would not come true. However, it was still a good thing to have a check. He would buy his son a Super Nintendo game console when he returned.

…

Ronald was reading the script of "Sugar Coat Trap" with Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall. During the break, Yang Yanzi was reporting to him about the shooting progress of "The Joy Luck Club". She also brought a sample film for Ronald to watch.

"The quality is very good, but is the progress a little slow?"

The film shot by Director Wang Ying is very particular about color and lighting, and it has a different feeling from mainstream Hollywood movies. There is a faint atmosphere of "The Last Emperor", which is a good way to shoot a Chinese American story.

If the tone can convey a message that this is not a story of you white people, but a Chinese story, but it is also very good, it will be good for the box office of the movie. The audience still remembers the "Last Emperor" of that year. This feeling of closeness, edited into a trailer, will definitely awaken their memories.

"Director Wang shoots movies very slowly, and he polishes them slowly. Those actors come from different places, and their performance methods also need to be adjusted."

"Tsk..." Ronald knew that what Yang Yanzi said made sense. Mainland actors, local Chinese, Vietnamese actors, and white actors, these people have to be adjusted together to shoot that unified style, don't they have to polish them slowly?

Ronald thought for a while and decided not to interfere. Anyway, the prices of these actors are very cheap. Hollywood Asian actresses have only had the opportunity to play the leading role in such a movie for many years. To be honest, most of them are willing to act without money.

"Try to adjust the role of Wen Mingna to the front. The director here wants her to play Chun-Li..."

"Okay..." After writing down Ronald's request, Yang Yanzi went back to report the good news to Wang Ying with approval.

"What role is Chun-Li?" Robert Duvall over there heard what Ronald said and tried his best to imitate it before he pronounced Chun-Li.

"It's a movie adapted from a game. It's our latest project, a bit experimental..." Ronald explained. The biggest difference from ordinary action movies is the multi-line narrative and up to twelve main characters.

The audience will first get familiar with the characters, and then look for their plots in the movie. This viewing experience is not available in other movies.

"Ahem, is there any role for a white female star in your movie?" Tom Cruise also heard Ronald's explanation, and he later found an opportunity to talk to Ronald specifically.

"No, there are eight optional characters, four fight bosses, and only Chunli is a Chinese woman. Haven't you played this game? I'll have someone send one to your home..." Ronald explained.

"You know, Nicole hasn't received any good movie scripts recently..."

"Hey, let them add a role... A female Kung Fu master who investigates the villain with American soldier Gu Li, how about it?" Ronald was also overjoyed when he heard that Nicole Kidman was going to play.

Isn't Tom Cruise very popular in Japan? If he can't play, his wife will play, which is also a gimmick.

Capcom, pay more!